The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands

Joyce Bulifant is a one trick pony. She is that vacuous eternal child with that awful voice. This story is just too much to fathom, starting with the winnings at the track. By the way, what would it cost to hire Perry Mason. Twenty-seven dollars seems a little low, even for the Sixties.

Another one of those episodes that is a conundrum. On one hand, take Joyce Bulifant -- a great comedic actress, but simply annoying in a dramatic role (even if a campy one). The plotline here wasn't the best, but I thoroughly enjoyed some of the courtroom play -- Perry actually sets up this scenario by advising the Richard Davalos character to get himself a shrewd lawyer; and what comes next is one of the better courtroom exchanges in the entire series. William Talman is at his exasperated best here. It almost makes putting up with the setup worth it. It then goes downhill into a rushed conclusion. A couple of casting changes could have made this one a standout. Too bad...

The episode ends with a complicated set of facts concerning the numbering of bills--which is incongruous to the ridiculous acting of "bubbly" Joyce Builfant in her final of two Perry Mason appearances (thankfully). I would blame MeTV for their editing of the episode, but we never know too much about the relationships of the characters, until the courtroom--or their places of "business," just the omnipresent Dabs Greer who has some accounting relationship with Martin, the decedent, that knows "Lorraine" and her boy friend, Rodney. I don't know if watching this again would solve any question. In short, "Nancy" is trying to protect her big brother from embezzlement charges, and bet's everything she has on a long-shot, so there $14,250 winnings with Rodney's $50 bet--that have little or nothing to do with $30,000 missing which we never see recovered. I still don't know why Nancy's hands were "ice-cold."

Joyce Bulifant who specialized in playing innocent if somewhat airheaded blonds long before Suzanne Somers became Chrissy Snow on Three's Company makes her second appearance on Perry Mason in this kind of part. She was not as good in this second appearance.

I suppose that her child like innocence is supposed to intrigue people like Perry, Della, and Paul. But in this trip out Bulifant was just too much. When she hands Perry a $27.00 retainer I thought I would heave.

For said retainer he's to take these tickets from the track and cash them in if they prove to be winners. And Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale do it and promptly get accused by Arch Johnson of taking these from one of his employees who embezzled money for betting. The employee is Dick Davalos and Bulifant is his sister.

Later on Johnson is found dead and Bulifant really needs Perry Mason.

Even with the usual Perry Mason paradigm of no guilty clients for Perry, you know Joyce could never have done it. Besides Davalos there are others as usual.

Still Bulifant's unreal character, so Jessica Simpson like, just annoyed in this episode.

The main character in the episode is Nancy Banks (Joyce Bulifant) who begins with some horse-racing tickets that she wants Perry to keep her. The tickets pay off but when Perry goes to cash the tickets for Nancy we begin the mystery of the week which leads to robbery and murder.

Maybe this is wrong of me, but every time I see or hear the voice of Joyce Bulifant I am reminded of the Saturday morning sitcom of "Big John Little John". Even though it was made for children it has to be an embarrassment whenever she remembers that show. It was one of the worse shows ever made for TV and Joyce will forever be remembered for starring in that series.

However, Joyce Bulifant does a great job as the young women caught up in a situation beyond her control. And all the time trying to keep her brother Rodney Banks (Richard Davalos) from going to jail for a number of bad choices.

In this episode we also get some of the best courtroom exchanges we have seen since the first two seasons. In fact DA Hamilton Burger even loses his cool during testimony and has to apologize to Perry. The courtroom scene also produces Inez Fremont(Phyllis Coats) on the witness stand talking about her dead husband. Her testimony is darling. The episode alone is worth seeing just for the courtroom exchanges.

We can be thankful for the courtroom scene because this story is mostly dull. One even starts to lose interest before Inez gets on the stand. We are brought back to life and the mystery play out right in the courtroom for all to see.

This episode could have been a lemon- but with good acting by the entire cast it ranks as a viewable show.